Warren Buffett Continues To Draw Salary of $100,000

According to a regulatory filing that was released on Friday afternoon, Warren Buffett's total compensation for running Berkshire Hathaway Inc. increased to $487,881 last year, up from $470,244 in the year before.

Warren Buffett continues to draw a salary of $100,000 from Berkshire Hathaway, as does Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who is Buffett's close confidant.

The majority of Buffett's $487,881 in compensation last year came from the costs incurred to keep him safe, as $387,881 was spent to protect the "Oracle of Omaha". After all, Buffett is one of the world's richest men (his net worth is approaching $80 billion), so there is obviously a constant danger that he might be kidnapped or worse. Buffett famously resides in the same house that he has lived in for the past 60 years, and there is obviously a security detail positioned at his house at all times.

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The vast majority of Warren Buffett's wealth is contained in his stake in Berkshire Hathaway. According to recent filings, Buffett owns roughly 18% of Berkshire Hathaway, despite donating a large number of shares to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation over the years. Like Bill Gates, Buffett would be worth considerably more if he hadn't donated so much over the years.

Buffett has moderate expenses so his $100,000 salary likely covers everything that Berkshire Hathaway doesn't. Buffett does have other streams of income, however, as he owns farms and stakes in office buildings in his personal name, amongst other assets. Buffett has talked about some of his personal investments in the past.

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Despite Warren Buffett himself drawing such a small salary, the heads of some of Berkshire Hathaway's various units are very well compensated, with some making upwards of $10 million per year. Warren Buffett tends to stay hands off when it comes to the companies that Berkshire Hathaway acquires, which is why their compensation structures can differ from those employed by the parent company.

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Warren Buffett's modest salary allows him to speak out against the excessive compensation that CEOs and other high-ranking executives of certain publicly traded companies receive.